The present disclosure relates to a heat exchanger.
Heat exchangers exchange heat between refrigerant flowing therein and indoor or outdoor air. Such a heat exchanger includes a tube and a plurality of fins for increasing a heat exchange area between air and refrigerant flowing through the tube.
Heat exchangers are classified into fin-and-tube type ones and micro-channel type ones, according to their shapes. A fin-and-tube type heat exchanger includes a plurality of fins and a tube passing through the fins. A micro-channel type heat exchanger a plurality of flat tubes and a fin bent at several times within between the flat tubes. Both the fin-and-tube type heat exchanger and the micro-channel type heat exchanger exchange heat between an outer fluid and refrigerant flowing within the tube or the flat tube, and the fins increase a heat exchange area between the outer fluid and the refrigerant flowing within the tube or the flat tube.
However, such heat exchangers have the following limitations.
First, the tube of a fin-and-tube type heat exchanger passes through the fins. Thus, even when condensate water generated while the fin-and-tube type heat exchanger operates as an evaporator flows down along the fins, or is frozen onto the outer surface of the tube or the fins, the heat exchanger can efficiently remove the condensate water. However, since fin-and-tube type heat exchangers include only a single refrigerant passage in the tube, heat exchange efficiency of the refrigerant is substantially low.
On the contrary, since a micro-channel type heat exchanger includes a plurality of refrigerant passages within the flat tube, the micro-channel type heat exchanger is higher in heat exchange efficiency of the refrigerant than a fin-and-tube type heat exchanger. However, micro-channel type heat exchangers include the fin between the flat tubes. Thus, condensate water generated while a micro-channel type heat exchanger operates as an evaporator may be substantially frozen between the flat tubes. In addition, the frozen water may substantially degrade the heat exchange efficiency of the refrigerant.